Editorial: OCC credit for pharmacy use aimless, inconsistent

As any college student knows, learning can be a tedious process. From cramming notes late at… As any college student knows, learning can be a tedious process. From cramming notes late at night to writing lengthy papers and calculating figures for lab reports, education comes at a cost.

Amid the mental strain of college, students often forget the bigger picture. There’s no doubt all that studying should pay off someday, but what else will students leave with after four years? If students gained knowledge only in their chosen curriculum after four years — no matter how exhaustive their comprehension — they’d leave shortchanged of supplemental learning that isn’t found on any class syllabus. Essentially, if students don’t make a proper effort, they’ll graduate without taking advantage of valuable extracurricular activities that college has to offer.

In an effort to get students more involved, Pitt launched the Outside of the Classroom Curriculum, or OCC, program last fall. Through a host of extracurricular offerings, the program aims to broaden students’ learning and development beyond the standard textbook fair.

The OCC program focuses on strengthening several facets of student development, including leadership development, career preparation, service to others and appreciation for the arts. From attending job fairs and seminars to participating in the Pitt Arts program, students receive OCC credit.

But here’s a different sort of offering: Pitt students can obtain OCC credit by using Pitt’s pharmacy.

On the one hand, the OCC program promotes a healthy lifestyle. In its most basic form, credit for using the pharmacy adheres to this: A sick student visits the pharmacy, picks up his medication and swipes his ID card for a morsel of OCC credit.

Of course, University administrators had more in mind than this simplified outlook when they decided to offer credit for pharmacy use earlier this year. Offering OCC credit for using Pitt’s pharmacy seeks to get new students acquainted with Pitt’s resources, Pitt’s Student Affairs spokesman Shawn Ahearn, said.

Students might have more reason to use Pitt’s pharmacy because of the credit incentive, as opposed to Rite Aid or their provider back home, but Ahearn said the action isn’t intended to appropriate business from other pharmacies.

Regardless of intentions, this still seems like an arbitrary way to offer credit. Under a program that typically encourages student exploration of programs directly related to curricular pursuits, going to the pharmacy seems unrelated to the program’s typical paradigm.

If the OCC program will offer credit for use of the pharmacy, the question looms: What will the program offer credit for next? Will students be egged to get their meals exclusively from University dining facilities by way of OCC incentive? Perhaps students will be encouraged to live on campus under motivation from OCC credit.

The OCC program facilitates involvement through organized and accessible means, and its true aim shouldn’t be overlooked: It wants to maximize students’ educational diversity and prospects. The real goals of this program shouldn’t be misrepresented. OCC credit must be pertinent before it’s so easily given.